National Realty Investment Advisors - The Signs of an Ideal Rental Location

According to National Realty Investment Advisors, the old real estate adage—location, location, location!—is highly applicable to those investing in rental homes. Location is not the only factor but it is the main factor along with home condition that determines the rental property’s success. It is also important to have desirable tenants, of course but they will come the more desirable the property. What also matters is the neighborhood the home is in, and access to transportation shopping and entertainment type amenities.Thus, however, is a factor that no property investor can afford to overlook or to ignore. What are some of the specific factors to look for in a rental home location? National Realty Investment Advisors lists a few of them, below.

National Realty Investment Advisors : Picking the Best Rental Home LocationSome of the most important characteristics of a rental home location include:

• The Neighborhood Itself :The quality of the neighborhood will impact not just the kinds of tenants you attract, but also the rate of vacancy you face. Center City neighborhoods near the business hub and jobs are best – as long as they are nice. Alternatives, like, a neighborhood that borders on a college campus can work. The family friendliness and feel of the neighborhood is what’s important there – or is it overrun with students and too young? Chances are, most renters are going to be students, which means you’ll have a regular high demand rental base but lower rents because kids can’t afford as much as families. Colleges bring fewer vacancies but can make the homes more expensive to maintain, so this is not really a desirable position to be in.

• Property Taxes :Property taxes are by no means uniform across the board. Different areas will have different taxes, and you’ll want to know what they are before deciding to invest. After all, high property taxes can eat through your profit margins.Area schools. If you rent to someone who has kids, or plans to have kids, then the quality of the local schools will almost surely be an issue. In fact, the local school system can directly impact the value of your real estate investment, as property values skyrocket in neighborhoods with great schools.

• Area Job Opportunities :If you want to do everything possible to keep vacancy rates low, then you need to pick a location that’s bringing in plenty of new people, all the time—and keeping them there. This means picking an area in which new jobs are being created, and in which employment opportunities are plentiful.

Public amenities in the area. On a related note, National Realty Investment Advisors says that attracting plenty of people to the area means having lots of amenities. More and more, people—especially families—want to live in an area with parks, with public walking trails, with movie theaters, with museums, and with easily accessible shopping. The best rental home locations are in areas with features like these.

• Number of Vacancies in the area :Check out how many listings there are in the area. If there seems to be an unusually high number of vacancies, it might be because it’s just the start of a vacancy season—but it could also mean that the area has “gone bad,” for whatever reason. Certainly, it is something to be concerned about. Make sure you figure out whether the problem is just temporary, seasonal, or something more pervasive.

• Average Rents in the area. According to National Realty Investment Advisors, it is imperative to research area rental rates before selecting a place to invest. Rents are the investor’s primary source of income, of course, and knowing what other, similar properties go for can help determine how much you will be able to charge. Note that, even with a fine and newly constructed property, you’re not necessarily going to get rents that far exceed what all the locals are charging unless you have built with outstanding upgrades.

• Natural Disasters common to the area. Any repair work or maintenance you have to do to the property is, naturally, an expense, and one you’d like to avoid. More to the point, natural disasters mean more expensive home owners insurance, which is an even more significant expense. Knowing if an area is prone to flooding or to earthquakes, or if it is located in a hurricane-heavy area, can give you some insight into what kinds of costs you’ll be accruing with the rental property.

• Future Developments. National Realty Investment Advisors encourages investors to check with the local municipal planning department to find out what kinds of building permits have been filed, and what kins of future developments are pending. If a shopping mall is in the works to be opened directly across from your proposed rental home location, it could obviously have an affect on your property value. National Realty Investment Advisors notes that investors will want to do whatever they can to assess what the area’s long-term future looks like.

More than anything else, it is simply important for the investor to get to know the area in which they intend to build or to buy. National Realty Investment Advisors confirms that location and quality of build are integral to real estate success. Art Scutaro of National Realty states “it’s often best to just hire an expert Project Management firm to perform all due diligence and proofs before starting and provide guarantees to your investment”.